Assistant Professor of Government Sean Westwood and coauthors recently released a new statistical method that harnesses machine learning to analyze complex experimental designs. Their method was published in Political Analysis, the top methodology journal in political science. With his colleagues, Westwood, the Director of Undergraduate Research in the Program in Quantitative Social Science, showed that it is possible to utilize a super-learner to estimate the effects of heterogenous treatments on respondents' attitudes. Their method also allows for the analysis of heterogeneous responses to treatments.

Economist and QSS Steering Committee member Andrew Samwick was highlightedin the November 6 VOX Daily. "Well-designed tax policies have the potential to raise economic growth. But there are many stumbling blocks along the way and certainly no guarantee that all tax changes will improve economic performance," writes the the Sandra L. and Arthur L. Irving '72a P'10 Professor of Economics and director of the Nelson A. Rockefeller Center for Public Policy and a co-author in a study cited by the newspaper. The quote came from a November 2 article in the Christian Science Monitor "Republicans pitch broad tax cuts. Is that what economy needs?"

In a recent article, the Dartmouth News talks about the growing influence of data and the key role Quantitaive Social Science plays in understanding and interpreting the data in fields from politics to sports.